Reaping the Immortal

by Pamela Labud

  "Recognize who?"

  "The souls of the dead. Those who've been in the undertaker's care at one time or another."

  "But, they've gone..."

  He shrugged. "They have, but their essence in the air. It can be most distracting. No wonder you haven't been able to concentrate."

  "Really?"

  "Perhaps you'd like to come stay with me. Clearly the funeral home is a most challenging environment."

  Holly bit her lip. Was it possible that it was the funeral home blocking her powers?

  As soon as the thought occurred to her, though, Holly knew it wasn't true. Whatever had blocked her Reaper power, it wasn't a pile of bricks and wood. No. It was Max Hyland. She'd felt his strength even when they'd been at dinner.

  "I'm already settled in and it's late. Even if the circumstances were different, I'm too tired to do anything right now. I'm sure things will look better in the morning."

  He nodded and smiled at her. "As you wish, my dear. I'm here to help however I can."

  Holly watched the driver pull away and felt a sudden relief at his leaving. Though, his outer appearance was his usual, pleasant countenance, she couldn't help feeling the undercurrent of frustration that stirred within him.

  Or, perhaps she was just imagining all of it. Perhaps she was just weak and inadequate and didn't want to face completing what was turning out to be the most unpleasant assignment she'd ever faced.

  She pulled her shawl a bit tighter around her shoulders and a breeze blew around the courtyard, enveloping her with bracing cool air. Just as she turned toward the house, a car pulled into the drive.

  At first, she thought it was Max, but it was another man — a man with the same build, the same square jaw and the same long, sexy stride.

  "Hello," he waved to her, practically in Max Hyland's voice. "You're that hot chick, Reaper girl, I take it."

  Holly's mouth went dry, and a shock of surprise went through her like lighting in a summer storm. "That would be me," she managed.

  He sent her a wide, predatory grin. "Awesome. I've been wanting to meet you."

  For some reason Holly didn't understand, this man scared her. Oh, sure, he looked very much the same as Max, but then again, totally different. Max was handsome, but in a clever, sophisticated way. He was serious and witty, all at the same time.

  But, this guy? The stranger before her was as good looking, too. But, edgy, frightening and, well, dangerous.

  If there was one thing Holly had made her life's endeavor, it was to stay away from danger, especially when it came to men.

  It was all she could do to keep from running to the house, slamming the door shut and locking it.

  "Awesome," he said, leaning back on his car's door.

  "Yeah, well, it's late and I need to be getting to bed."

  He shrugged. "It's not that late. And, Max should be here pretty soon. I hear he's in a world of trouble."

  "I don't think it's proper for us to talk about it. It's his private business after all."

  The stranger pushed forward and in three long steps, was standing in front of her. "For the record, I'm his brother and the only family he has on this plane of existence. Max and I are twins."

  "I figured as much. But, still. If you'll excuse me."

  He shook his head. "I'm sorry, but I don't excuse you. Max is more than just my brother. The two of us are connected. If he dies, I die. And, let me tell you. I'm against dying."

  "Everybody is," she said, trying to push past him. He grabbed her arm and pulled her back around.

  "You don't understand. I'll do whatever it takes to stay alive. You don't know this, but my brother's no angel. He may deserve to die, but I don't."

  Holly didn't know what to say. "I don't know what you're talking about. I just know that he was who I have orders for. If you're part of that, I can't help it. I'm sorry. Now, please let me go."

  The man stared hard at her for a few minutes. "Sure, thing, lady." With that he stepped back and threw his hands in the air.

  She stumbled back a pace but managed to keep her footing. "Thank you." She turned back and did her best not to run into the house. She may have been trembling in fear on the inside, but the last thing she wanted was for this stranger to know it.

  "For what it's worth, he thinks you’re a special lady. That you have a heart and that you actually care for him. Too bad he's wrong."

  Finally, Holly entered the house, slamming the door closed behind her, she ran upstairs and into her room. Her chest was tight and she had a hard time catching her breath. Flipping on the bedroom light, she nearly startled Artemis off her perch.

  "What the devil?"

  Sniffing, Holly turned the lock on the door and then threw herself onto the bed. "It's not the devil, Artie. It's me." Her tears welled up and before she could take another breath she was sobbing. "It's me and I'm a monster."

  CHAPTER EIGHT

  "Dude. What were you thinking?" Max asked Matty. "He'd just pulled into the drive to see his twin manhandling Holly in the driveway.

  Matty threw up his hands. "Back off, bro. I didn't hurt her. And, while we're on it, why are you so worried about her? She wants to kill us, remember?"

  Max shoved his brother out of the way. "She wants to kill me. I want to kill you." With that he stormed past him and headed into the house. Just as he got inside the door, he heard her bedroom door slam upstairs.

  "Hey, I'm sorry, okay? She's a tough cookie. I know her type. She'll lead you on, and when you least expect it, bam. You're toast and I'll be on the slab next to you."

  Max spun around. "You're wrong. You don't know her. She doesn't want to kill anybody. Ever."

  "If you're right, she's the worst Reaper in her profession."

  "It's not that. Look. People need to die. It's how the world works. She helps people. She's got a kind heart and she feels for every subject she helps."

  "So, she's going to feel really bad when she kills us?"

  Max let out a long breath. "She's not going to kill us. We just need to figure this out."

  "Right. Well, tomorrow I'm going to make some calls, get in touch with my contacts and see what's being said out there."

  "You mean, O'Malley's?"

  Even asking the question, Max knew the truth. Fiona O'Malley was one of the top gossip mongers in the Underworld. She knew all the ins and outs of the criminal environments the way a third grader knew their way around a reading primer.

  Not that the town was anything like Nocturne Falls. Far from it. No, Underworld occupied a place that was as far off the tourist track as anyone could ever get. And Fi was the queen of it all.

  Or, she'd had everyone believe she was. The truth was she and Matty had had an on again off again fling that had a habit of starting out hot as a Phoenix summer and then crashing and burning like one of those solar storms on the face of the sun. Right now, however, they were ice cold in the relationship department, so Max knew how hard it must have been for his brother to decide to ask her for information.

  "You don't have to do this," Max started. “I know things are tough between you two."

  Matty laughed, a short, harsh, brittle sound. "Tough doesn't even begin to describe it. But, if you'd like to come along with me, I'm sure you might convince her to not cut my heart out and feed it to her dogs."

  Max shrugged. It's not like he had anything else to do. Besides, he was sure Holly probably didn't want to see him right now, especially after he ditched her earlier in the evening.

  "Come on. Let's go."

  Without saying another word, Matty walked over to his car and climbed behind the wheel. In an odd sense of déjà vu, Max felt like he'd done this all before. Except, it had always been the other way around, with him trying to pull his brother's acorns out of the fire.

  "Shut up. You're talking too much." Matty said after their riding in silence for the better part of an hour.

  "I haven't said anything," Max said.
>
  "I can hear you thinking."

  Beyond tired, Max rubbed his eyes. "I don't see how this is going to help anything. I did a bad thing."

  "When you were a kid."

  Max sighed. "I'm pretty sure I'd reached the age of reason. I think I was around forty, by human standards, anyway."

  "Like I said, practically an infant."

  "As I recall, you were fighting in a war. Was it the crusades?"

  Matty made a wistful sound. "Such a wonderful time. Death and pestilence, iron against flesh, and the women were so darn sweet."

  "Yeah, I remember you almost getting yourself cut in half by an ax. What were you thinking? Besides, we didn't even have internet back then."

  "We didn't need it. People are too informed if you ask me. Social media — nobody needs to talk that much."

  Max snorted. "You are such a renaissance man."

  "It was a simpler time. Believe me, brother, that was better."

  "Was it? They were going to burn us at the stake a couple centuries later."

  "Yes, but in my defense, I thought that being tied at the ankles and wrists and then tossed into a lake was a sort of sport. You know, like the Olympics."

  Max waved his hand. "Yeah, well, we were lucky that storm happened or we both would have been spending a couple of centuries as crispy critters."

  "You're so dramatic."

  Finally, Matty's little sports car pulled up to the worst nightclub in a hundred-mile radius, Lucifer's Left Hand, or rather Lefty's as it was commonly referred to. Outside the front entrance was an equally disturbing sign, with blood red lettering scrawled against a solid black background. "Welcome to Underworld."

  Seeing the wretched old place sent a shot of trepidation right through Max. All sorts of 'undesirables' frequented this place. Dark magic lived there as well. And, not the 'cast a spell and turn you into a toad,' stuff. No, the soul sucking, fire and brimstone sort. Rumor had it, Hell was like a summer home compared to this place.

  "Let's get this over with," he said, crossing the parking lot, heading for the much smaller, much quainter establishment, O'Malley's Bar and Grille. Always in the shadows, the place could have been a mom and pop diner if it weren't for the background noise of gunfire, screaming and general chaos of its neighbor.

  "I hate this place," Max said as they entered.

  The dining room smelled like old shoes and the air was oppressively thick and muggy. It was because they brewed their own spirits in the back room, in addition to heaven only knew what else they cooked back there.

  Still a popular place, O'Malley's had stayed in business for one principle reason. Anyone that survived the night at Lefty's usually staggered over for breakfast, and corn beef a la the prospect of surviving another day tasted pretty darned good.

  "You rotten, no good, son of a..." a woman screeched across the room.

  Before Max knew what was happening, the black coated Irish she-wolf launched herself through the air and landed on Matty, knocking him completely off his feet. Then, transforming into her full, sexy woman skin, Fiona O'Malley pinned her one-time lover to the floorboards, a butcher knife against his throat and her knee in his groin.

  "Hi honey," Matty said, doing his best to stretch his neck out of the way of the gleaming blade. "Long time no see."

  "It's way too soon, if you ask me," she growled. "What kind of stones do you have to face me again after you dumped me for that biker-witch wannabe?"

  "I admit," Matty said, squirming another two inches. "I've made some bad decisions. But, I'm a reformed man. I know when I've wronged someone and I mean to make it right."

  "Oh," she said, pulling back slightly. "Like cheaters anonymous? Liar."

  Max could have stood there another hour while the two worked out their problems. Unfortunately, he didn't have the time or care about whether or not they could ever make nice. He knew his brother's old girlfriend wouldn't kill him, because as bad as she talked, Fi was no murderer.

  But, she could hurt him bad and then it would take forever to get the information Max so desperately needed. One thing about the she-wolf, as much as she liked hurting Matty, she loved making him all better afterwards. It was their game, after all. Heaven only knew what would happen if the two should ever grow up and actually work at a relationship. It could be epic.

  "Fi," Max started, cautiously tapping on her shoulder. "I know you're upset with my boneheaded brother, but I'm in a lot of trouble right now and I could totally use your help."

  As much as Fiona loved-slash-hated his brother, she'd always been very congenial toward Max. Of course, he'd never promised her the moon and then skipped out on her at sunset, either.

  "Hey, Maximillian. Oh, my goodness. I didn't see you there."

  Jumping up from all fours, the tall, leggy brunette was a sight to be seen. Her hair shone like midnight and her eyes were a simmering mahogany, she was as breathtaking as the stars on a clear night. Not only was she one of the most beautiful creatures on earth, she was extremely helpful in a fight. Max had once been told she bench pressed mobile homes just to stay in shape.

  "Hey, Fi. How are ya?"

  In answer, she pulled him into a vise-like embrace and if Max weren't a magical being, he was pretty sure she'd would have broken every bone in the trunk of his body. Fortunately, Immortals were immune to that.

  "I'm as good as can be expected after having my hopes and dreams crushed by your no-good brother."

  "Baby," Matty said as he climbed back to his feet. "That was almost a year ago. I'm different now. I've matured."

  She sent him a scathing expression and for once Max was glad his brother backed away from it. As it was, he was kinda wishing Fiona would teach Matty about how to treat a woman.

  "So," she said. "What brings you boys to my little corner of the world?"

  "How about we get a table and maybe some coffee?" Max asked and Fiona warmed to him. "For you, Maxie, anything."

  Ten minutes later, Max had explained his current situation and the fact that he wasn't sure whether it was all set-in motion by his own actions, or something else.

  Fiona crossed her arms. "Well, I've not heard a thing about your little slip-up back in the day. I think as a new Immortal; you were probably given some leeway. After all, the guy tried to kill you and about fifty other people, right?"

  Max shrugged. "True, but I thought stuff like that didn't matter. I mean, the law is the law."

  "Yeah, well, mass murderers aside, evil always finds a way to take hold. Now, what I have heard is that there is a struggle going on at the High Council level."

  "Really?" Max leaned closer, at the same time keeping an eye on his brother who was grinning toward one of the waitresses, a little golden minx cat woman that turned on her feline charms the minute they walked into the diner.

  "Really. Same old story, and as I hear it, it's been going on awhile. A couple years back there was a big shake up. One of the top Reapers brought charges against one of the OG's, a Magical who was said to be among the first to organize things back in the day."

  "Master Renault," Max said.

  "I dunno. Never heard his name. Anyway, he wasn't happy and has spent half of the last century trying to figure a way back in. Then, bingo, he fell off the radar. Despite years of maneuvering to get his position back, he suddenly threw his hands up and told them 'never mind.'”

  "That coincides with the order for my demise."

  Fiona sat back. "Oh, wow. You're the guy?"

  "The guy? What guy?"

  "The unlucky one who they've been playing existential racquetball with. Word is, that if the OG gets his way, and you get Reaped, his magical powers will go off the scale. It'll be a shakeup of huge proportions."

  "Wow, big brother," Matty said. "You are in huge trouble."

  Max shot him a warning expression. "We are in big trouble." He turned to Fiona. "Can you keep your eyes open and let us know if anything else comes down the pike?"


  "I sure can. And, for what it's worth," she said, stepping up so close that her warm breath touched him. "I'm pulling for you, Max. Him," she said, pointing to Matty. "Not so much."

  #

  Holly tried to sleep, but every time she closed her eyes, she saw Master Renault placing his long bony fingers on Max, forcing him to kneel and accept the death that he'd been given.

  And, it wasn't a pretty 'close your eyes and slip into eternity' sort of death. No way.

  Holly had Reaped a few Magicals that were aged in their two and three hundreds. But, none of them had been pleasant. The older the person was, especially if they still wore the face of youth, the years would come to them incredibly fast. Aging would happen within seconds and the scourge of time was not pleasant. In fact, it was horribly, terrifyingly painful. And some were said to crumple into dust.

  Finally, giving up on sleeping all together, Holly climbed out of bed, grabbed her jeans and a sweater, and brushed her hair, pulling it back into a pony tail.

  "Where're you going?" Artemis asked, ruffling her feathers, probably angry at having been awoken by the lights.

  "Out," Holly said. Artie was her familiar, not her keeper.

  "Right. Why?"

  Holly let out a breath. "I need coffee."

  "I'm sure there's probably some in the kitchen."

  "There is, but I don't want to wake anybody up. I'm not going to get any sleep, so I might as well work."

  "On what?"

  "I've got my laptop. I need to do some research. So, it's coffee and an all-night diner."

  "In Nocturne Falls?"

  "I already googled it. There's one only a couple of miles from here."

  "Sure. Are you calling a cab?"

  Holly didn't want the third degree from a bird. "No. I need to walk. Maybe it'll help clear my head."

  "Be careful. You don't know what's out there."

  Holly's heart softened a bit. Of course, her friend would worry about her.

  "I'll be careful. But, really, who do you think is going to approach a Reaper? I'll wear my robe and cape if it makes you feel better."

  "And carry the death scythe, too?"

  Holly looked at her a minute. "Really?"